Simming History

It is said that swimming has been known since prehistoric times. Drawings of swimming from the Stone Age were even found in "the cave of swimming" near Wadi Sora in southwestern Egypt. In 1538 Nicolas Wynman, German professor of languages, wrote "Colymbetes", the first swimming book. Competitive swimming started around 1800 in Europe, mostly using the breaststroke. Competitive swimming started in 1800 in Europe, using mostly breaststroke. John Arthur introduced the freestyle, then called the trudgen, in 1872, copying it from Native Americans. Competitive swimming took part in the first Olympic Games in 1896, which was hosted by Athens. Richard Cavill improved the trudgen in 1902 by using the flutter kick. The World Swimming Association was then formed in 1908. The Butterfly was a variant of breaststroke at first, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952. Written references of swimming have been dated back to 2000 B.C. including Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible (Ezekiel 47:5, Acts 27:42, Isaiah 25:11), Beowulf, and other sagas, although the saga is never described. There are also many mentions of swimming in the Vatican, Borgian and Bourbon codices.

Why Should I Join?

 A lot of people wonder why they should join a swim team. Well, the reasons could be endless depending on the person and the situation. For example, some people may want to join swim team because they love to swim and be in the pool. For some of the younger swimmers their parents sign them up so they can learn this life skill. One of the reasons why you should join is because of the exercise. Most swim teams have practices for an hour 4-5 times a week, which is great for your fitness and it's proven that swimming is the best way of exercising. Another reason why you should join a swim team is because of the time you get to spend with friends. Some kids join swim team with a friend so they know that they will know someone there. If you join by yourself don’t be too frightened though. I can almost guarantee that you will make a ton of friends by the end of the first week of practice. I know on my team we can’t wait for more kids to join. Some people wonder if they should even try being on a swim team because they aren’t the best swimmers. Well, if you want to join go ahead and join. The coaches will help you improve your strokes and you’ll be swimming faster than you could imagine before you know it. You won’t be the only one either. A lot of swimmers start off just being able to get in the water and keep their head above it. I have been swimming for around six years now and I don’t know how I kept myself busy before I was in swimming. I don’t mean to be mean or anything but in personal experiences of my friends, family, and I you’ll learn how to swim faster on a swim team than you will being in swimming lessons. So if you just want to learn quick and be done with it, I would recommend trying a swim team first. If you don’t mind it taking the lessons for a while then go ahead and try swimming lessons. Either way you will eventually learn how to be a great swimmer.

Swimwear

There are a lot of different kinds and brands of swimwear. There are at least 80 brands of swimwear. Such as Speedo, TYR, Sporti, Dolfin, and many others. There are also a lot of different styles of swimwear. Such as bikinis, one piece suits, a swim dress, and many more. You can also get swimsuits in about every color. Swimsuits can come in one color, two colors, or even more colors that are combined.

There are a few different places to buy swimsuits. You can get them at a local store or online. If you go online to get a swimsuit you will find a lot of different websites to look at. There are a few websites that are more popular and very trustworthy too. One of these websites is Swimoutlet.com. Swimoutlet.com sells a variety of swimwear, clothing, and even swim accessories. Swimoutlet also has some of the cheapest and longest lasting swimsuits that you can get. So next time you're looking for a swimsuit try looking at Swimoutlet.com.

The Fastest Swimmers in the World

It’s hard to find out who the fastest swimmer in the world is, since there are so many different websites that say different people. There is one website I found that I think is a pretty trustworthy website though. This is the USA Swim Teams website. So if you want to check this information go to their website and open the PDF.

One of the fastest swimmers in the U.S. is Michael Phelps. He has the fastest time in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 400 IM, and he is also in the fastest 400 freestyle relay, 800 freestyle relay, and the 400 IM or medley relay. Another one of the fastest male swimmers is Ryan Lochte. He has the fastest time in the 200 IM and is in the fastest 800 freestyle relay.

One of the fastest female swimmers in the U.S. is Rebecca Soni. Rebecca has the fastest time in the 200 breaststroke and is also in the fastest 400 IM or medley relay. Another one of the fastest female swimmers is Natalie Coughlin. She has the fastest time in the 100 backstroke and she is also in the fastest 400 freestyle relay and the 400 IM or medley relay.

Stroke Types And Difficulties

There are four strokes that you can swim at a swim meet. These strokes are butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. There is one other kind of race you can swim at a meet though. This race, the IM, is mixture of all the strokes. You swim a lap or more of every stroke. There is a certain order you need to swim them in though. This order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and then freestyle.

 

People have argued over which stroke is the easiest and which stroke is the hardest. To tell you the truth, there’s not a right answer. Everyone has a different stroke that they struggle with and a stroke that they do really good in. For some people they might have difficulty with butterfly and be great at breaststroke, meanwhile it might be the exact opposite for one of their friends.  The strokes you are the best at can change as you improve the other strokes to though. For example, when I first started swimming my best stroke was backstroke, but now that I have improved my techniques my best stroke is freestyle. Freestyle is the one stroke that just about everyone is good at. Some people have a better freestyle than others though.

Are Diving and Breathing That Important?

A swimmer must have very good breathing techniques. You have to be able to keep breathing in a    pattern when you are tired. Most coaches make sure that you practice your breathing at practices because your breathing can affect you in your races. The coaches usually tell you that you have to be taking three strokes then a breath for your breathing pattern. Coaches also make you practice breathing towards the end of a practice, when you are getting really tired. This practice will help a swimmer at a meet, because as a swimmer gets tired it becomes difficult  to get oxygen to the mussels. This is why it is necessary to practice      breathing on low levels of oxygen.

Diving is very important when swimming a race. If you do a really good dive you could start your race way ahead of the other competitors. When diving it is very important that you push off the block with a lot of power. If you have a lot of power on a dive it will affect your race very greatly. There are two different types of diving you would use at a swim meet. The first and more typically seen is a basic dive. In this dive you need to have your hips lifted high and your toes curled around the diving board, or pool ledge for the younger swimmers. Your hands should also be placed one on top of the other to form a streamline when you dive off. The second kind of dive is the relay dive. This dive is used less because it is used only for relays. In this dive you don’t bend down you stay standing up. You wait until the swimmer that is in the water gets past the flags then you make your hands into a triangle with your hands barely touching each other. Then you follow the swimmer with your hands and when they are about to touch the wall you split the triangle and throw your arms backwards to bring them forwards and dive into the water.

For more information check this site! Talk Swimming